


Gained and Lost and Gained Again

by Arytra



Series: Ranger Soul Bonds [2]
Category: Power Rangers Dino Thunder
Genre: AU Fix-It Fic, Gen, GoodMentor!Tommy, Happy Ending, Kira and Conner are more in the background and mentioned, Platonic Soulbonds, Rangers wearing each others colors with their own, Trent and Tommy are both dumpster fires, Trust and love are important, but they're trying!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-16 00:20:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,710
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29444727
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arytra/pseuds/Arytra
Summary: Trent wants a Ranger soul bond more than anything because it will prove that he is loved and safe and he needs it after being evil.  Unfortunately for Trent, gaining the soul bond is one thing but it's based on trust... and that may be something that is easily broken.
Relationships: Tommy Oliver and Trent Fernandez-Mercer
Series: Ranger Soul Bonds [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2074044
Kudos: 11





	Gained and Lost and Gained Again

Once he was on their side, Kira sat Trent down and explained the Power soulbonds they all shared. She told him how he would see them and let him know that there would be times when he didn’t see them at all. Then she gave him the final warning. “It’s not fast. It took the three of us until Doctor O was stuck in the amber to figure out that we had it. And then we only got it with him once he was out.”

Trent had latched on to the idea, desperately wanting them for himself as well. He still felt weird around the others and he figured that a bond like that would help him out. Unfortunately, he couldn’t force it to just happen and the bonds weren’t going to appear by sheer will, no matter how desperately he tried. Doctor O had looked over at him, at least he was pretty sure that’s what had happened since it was hard to tell when his teacher was still stuck in the suit, and Trent tried to hide the fact that he was trying to figure out what would work to get him the bonds he wanted.

“What are you doing, Trent?” Doctor O asked gently.

“What do you mean?” Trent asked, a little too fast. His mother and father had left. His father was Mesogog. He had no one left and if he didn’t make this team need him, he was going to continue to have no one who stayed for him. Doctor O was quiet for a minute before he continued.

“I didn’t know about bonds when I first became a Ranger,” he admitted. “Which is good because I probably would have done the same thing you’re doing now.”

“Your team didn’t tell you?” He asked. Doctor O laughed.

“My team didn’t know,” he answered. “They bonded from the moment they used their morphers. It was just part of everything else: morpher, suit, weapon, Zord, bond. It wasn’t until I was there that we figured out something was different.”

“And it didn’t bother you that they were bonded and you weren’t?” Trent asked.

“We didn’t know, remember?” Doctor O said and sighed. “Though, it did feel off until we did bond.”

Trent’s eyes lit up as he grasped at that fact. “How did you know that it would?”

“We didn’t,” Tommy said. “A bond isn’t something that you can force. And Sixths take a while sometimes to get there because we come in after. But you’ll get there.”

“How can you be so sure?” Trent asked.

“Because I recently had to have this conversation with Kira,” Doctor O answered, sounding completely amused. Something in Trent relaxed after hearing that. His mentor wasn’t worried, his teammate wanted it to happen, and while maybe he could make it happen sooner, it would still eventually happen.

***

Trent looked at the shirt he was wanting to wear. The others had assured him that the ability to wear different colors faded over time, but he knew better than that. Even being evil tied you into the single color wearing quicker than it did for most Rangers. And only now, he could wear another color: Black. He could also somewhat wear yellow, something that he wasn’t surprised over really. Kira had been wanting the bond to happen as much as he had. He put back the shirt, ignoring that it somewhat hurt and grabbed something with yellow on it instead. He knew that Kira wanted to bond, but he hadn’t seen Doctor O with Kira or Ethan’s colors and he was pretty sure that the red he’d seen before wasn’t related to Conner. If he was going to wear a color, he wanted it to be with a teammate who wanted those bonds.

Ethan looked at him curiously later that day even as Kira beamed and Conner was oblivious. The Blue Ranger waited until the others were out of the way and made his way over to the White Ranger. “You look like the shirt is pinching you. Listen, we’ll get there. You don’t have to…”

“It’s not that,” Trent said quickly. “I can wear yellow just fine. It just wasn’t the color calling to me today, okay?”

Ethan nodded in understanding. “That’s because the Power knows which bond you need today. So, you didn’t need Kira. Was it red? Because the first time I felt the pull to wear red, I tried to ignore it for like three days.”

“It wasn’t red. And it wasn’t blue either,” he said, not wanting to upset Ethan. He was starting to feel that blue might not be all that bad. “It was black.”

“Oh,” Ethan said. “So why not wear Doctor O’s color? Kira does it all the time because it looks good with yellow.”

“Seriously? That’s why?” He asked in amusement. Ethan shrugged.

“Other than figuring out our stuff with you, we don’t get that many pulls anymore,” Ethan told him. “So, it’s literally a ‘what sounds good today’? Watch Conner. He’ll alternate between Kira and me just to make sure we don’t think he’s playing favorites. And if he’s worried about how Doctor O is doing, then he grabs something black. But about you. Why don’t you want to wear Doctor O’s color?”

Trent was quiet for a minute before he answered. “I don’t even know if he likes the idea. He never wore any of your colors and he’s bonded with the four of you.”

Ethan was quiet for a minute. “Doctor O is broken, Trent. Kira talked to him. She said he didn’t know that we had bonded to him and vice versa. And Trent? Bonds don’t work one way.”

Trent looked at him. “What?”

“Yeah,” he said. “You have to have both sides feeling trust and love at the same time. Otherwise, it doesn’t work.”

Trent just looked down at where his morpher was. “He trusts me.”

“I’d tease you, but honestly? None of us are that great about hiding our need for his approval so…” Ethan said with a shrug. “If you’re feeling a tug to wear the color, that means it’s close. This sucks though.”

“What does?” Trent asked, looking alarmed.

“I don’t own a lot of white,” Ethan said, not bothering to hide his smile. “Thanks for making me have to go shopping.”

“At least mine goes with anything,” Trent mocked. “Instead of being one primary color triplets.”

“Wish to bond dying, dying…” Ethan teased before wrapping at arm around the other. “Come on. They’ll be worried. Just stop ignoring it. And don’t get upset when Doctor O doesn’t notice because he’s super blind.”

Trent just laughed.

***

He was fortunate that Ethan had thought to mention that, however, since Doctor O didn’t notice it. He did, somehow, notice when Trent wore Kira’s color and then Ethan’s. When he finally wore red, Doctor O just quietly got him a small cupcake and told him not to tell the others he did so. Cupcakes were fantastic. Cupcakes mixed with an awoken bond were even better. He didn’t say anything to the science teacher, remember what Ethan had told him. He wanted to tell Doctor O about his dad and Mesogog and just spill everything, but he’d promised his dad. He knew that the other would help, but trust was important and Anton Mercer had already asked for his right now. Still, just because Doctor O couldn’t read Trent’s emotions, didn’t mean that he couldn’t read Doctor O’s.

The amount of pride that he had in the four of them was almost staggering. The concern when they rushed off to fight and he wasn’t there yet, the relief when they came back, the bemusement when they all tried to talk to him at once. And when he needed it, when he was hiding in Hayley’s or outside or wherever he was taking residence, the bond felt like a blanket. Yellow came in next, perching itself on his shoulders and staying there. Blue would eventually rest around his waist like a belt. Red constantly touched, but didn’t relax like the others as it was constantly in movement and needing to watch out for him. The others assured him that theirs were similar. Only, they had White rest on their right side completely still and never relaxed. He found that to be equally a relief considering it meant it was watching over them.

And then Doctor O felt into his coma and woke up able to see the different colors. Trent had been just as emotional as the other three. His teacher had waited until the others had left before looking at Trent. “I’ve never had White before.”

“Black was the first I got, Doctor O,” he answered. His mentor tried to hide how much that meant but Trent could see it in his eyes. “Ethan explained what was going on. I thought you didn’t want to…”

“I am so sorry,” Doctor O said quickly, realizing what Trent had assumed. “I just… I didn’t want to talk about it.”

“So you just kind of kept it a secret?” Trent asked and Doctor O nodded.

“I did,” he said. “I should have…”

“Sometimes, you just can’t tell anyone,” Trent assured him. Doctor O had the look that he felt something was off about that, but he wasn’t sure what. “And you’re telling me now.”

“I’m telling you now,” Doctor O agreed. “You understand that this means that we completely trust you?”

“And care about me,” Trent said with a nod. “Does it always feel the best when you’re a sixth?”

“I think so,” Tommy answered. “It did for me. And you got those bonds in a good time frame.”

“Who had the best time?” Trent asked.

“For sixths? Lost Galaxy’s Mike Corbett. The entire team got theirs at the same time they got him,” he answered. “For worst, well, Eric Myers has only two for a reason.”

“How does he only have two?” Trent asked. 

“Because he waited too long,” Doctor O answered, rolling his eyes. Trent wasn’t sure what he meant by that, but he figured he’d look into it later. “You were in the middle which is a good place to be.”

He nodded. “Doctor O? Can anything break a bond?”

“Yes,” Doctor O answered. “If something happens that hurts the trust or love from one side or the other? That results in a broken bond.”

Trent’s heart pounded. “A-and what’s that like?”

Doctor O patted the young Ranger’s shoulder and gave a sad smile. “I tried to explain it to Kira, but honestly? I just hope you never have to find out.”

***

Black was the first to shatter. His father was standing there now as Mesogog and Trent was having to explain that he’d known and then he just felt like he’d been stabbed in the heart as the ever present bond literally shattered before his eyes. The only consolation he somewhat felt was seeing that Doctor O, in all of his anger, had raised his hand up to his own heart. Red broke right after, directly in front of him as the metaphysical pieces laid in a pile. Then Blue and finally Yellow. The shattered remains completely disappeared quickly after. Mesogog was gone, the others were furious, and Trent just wanted to curl up and sob both from the bonds physically hurting when they broke and the fact that they were gone. And that he was back to being alone.

He’d tried to rush off to go hide after it had happened, but Doctor O had grabbed him roughly by the arm. He barked at the other three to go home and Trent felt a surge of panic that it wasn’t just his bonds that had broken but that trust throughout the team might be hurting. He went along with Doctor O as he led him back to the lair. “Guestroom is upstairs on the right.”

“What?” Trent asked. Doctor O sighed.

“You’re in a lot of pain right now,” he said, obviously fighting through his own. “Take a damn shower and get some sleep, Trent.”

“I can just…” he said, motioning back to outside. Doctor O grabbed him by the shoulders.

“Trent,” he ordered. “I’ve been through this. Take a shower. Now!”

Trent ran to go do so. He didn’t miss that his mentor was sinking to the floor nor did he miss the quiet murmur that ‘it didn’t get easier’. He took the shower and his mentor was right, it helped a little and it washed away the tears that he felt. He had wanted this so much and now he’d managed to ruin it. He was used to the reassurance of bonds around him and he felt cold, like he’d lost a limb. He dried off and headed into the guestroom as he was ordered. Right now, he didn’t have the strength to run and Doctor O didn’t have the strength to chase him. He fell asleep soon after.

***

It was quiet the next morning and Trent wondered if he could just hide away in the room for the rest of eternity. How was he supposed to fight with them now when he’d hurt them all so badly? He just pulled up the blankets as there was a knock on the door and then it opened. Trent glared at his teacher over the blankets. Doctor O shrugged.

“I knocked,” he answered. “And you would have said everything was fine which meant you would have hidden under the blankets until we could talk.”

“I don’t want to talk,” Trent muttered. “I’m really sorry that all of you are hurting too but…”

“Breakfast is now,” Doctor O told him. “You have five minutes or I’ll be back.”

Trent huffed, but did as he was told, as much as he didn’t want to. He edged out the door and toward the table where Tommy was sitting. “I should be able to hide if I want.”

“You’re in my house.”

“You dragged me here,” Trent reminded him. “I don’t…”

“Want to be around us. I know,” Doctor O agreed. “And that’s why I’m not letting you hide.”

“Why?” He asked. Doctor O paused for a minute and then looked at him firmly.

“It’s going to take some time to get back to where we were,” he said. “But that because of the trust. What’s the other part of the bond?”

“Love,” he answered. Doctor O just gave a soft smile.

“Right,” he said. “The others are mad, I’m mad, but I don’t think any of us don’t care about you. I know for a fact I still do. That was why I dragged you here last night: Because you need a place to be safe. And hiding away doesn’t fix it.”

“It might,” Trent argued.

“It didn’t for me,” he answered. Trent just stared for a minute as Doctor O sighed. “I won’t say I was the only one who screwed up. I will say that I managed to be the only one who couldn’t get over it because the others talked through things soon after to fix any broken bonds and I ran. By the time I wanted to try, I was too broken to give it a shot. Billy, my blue Ranger, tried to tell me that it was all in my head. I, uh, didn’t listen to him either.”

“Is that why you wore blue for three days straight?” Trent asked. “Because Conner seriously was complaining that he didn’t know why Ethan was your favorite…”

“I don’t have a favorite!” Doctor O protested.

“Yes you do and we don’t hold it against her,” Trent said with a grin before the grin died. Doctor O sobered as well.

“Just give it time,” he said.

“Aren’t you going to ask if that was the only lie?” Trent asked.

“Why bother?” Doctor O said with a shrug. “I could, but if you are lying to me, I won’t know and if you aren’t, I can’t fully believe you anyway.”

Trent winced. “Oh.”

“Just prove it to me by being honest with me going forward,” he encouraged. Trent white knuckled the table.

“He’s my dad,” he said quietly. “He told me not to… He’s my dad.”

Doctor O looked unsure of what to say which made it worse, if you asked Trent. 

“Yeah, I think I get that.” As Trent looked at him in confusion, Doctor O gave a small smile. “Before he was your dad, he was my mentor. So I get it.”

“What should I have done?” Trent demanded.

“Told us what was going on,” Doctor O said sternly. “We can’t help you if we don’t know to help you.”

“So, always be honest?” Trent asked. Doctor O nodded.

“Yes,” he said.

“Like you were when you lied to us?” He asked and Doctor O paled dramatically.

“I…” he said.

“I let you off the hook because I understood!” Trent snapped. Doctor O sighed.

“I can’t just…” He said. “I’m not saying you’re wrong but…”

“But what?” Trent demanded.

“But I can’t change how I feel on this,” Doctor O said quietly. “I want to fix this…”

Trent looked at him hopefully. “You do?”

“Of course I do,” Doctor O said. “So, I understand but I’m still upset.”

Trent was quiet for a minute. “When do you want me to leave?”

“You’re not leaving,” Doctor O said sternly. “It’s not safe with whatever you were doing before. We are going to figure this out.”

“Really?” He asked. His mentor nodded.

“Really. It’s going to take time. And the others will have to make their own choices,” he warned. Trent looked at his hands.

“I’m tired of losing people,” he said quietly. “If I can get even one bond back…”

Doctor O squeezed his shoulder. “You will.”

Trent believed him. “Thank you.”

“You’re grounded forever.”

“Oh come on!”

“Forever, Trent,” Doctor O said and set down some pancakes in front of the teen. Trent stabbed the pancake, glaring at his teacher who seemed to take it in stride as he drank his coffee. If he hadn’t seen Doctor O absently rubbing near his heart, he likely would have believed that his mentor was actually alright. Too bad he’d seen it.

***

Kira was the nicest to him, but considering that their bond hadn’t reformed yet, he understood that she didn’t trust him. Doctor O had sat all four down and explained that they were still teammates and needed to work together regardless of the circumstances. Trent had forced a smile and nodded, pretending to completely understand while feeling heartbroken. Ethan had been in the best position to explain the situation to Trent.

“We weren’t expecting it to happen,” he’d said quietly. It wasn’t anywhere near the far more pleasant talk that they’d had the first time. “Conner’s almost shattered with all of us. Kira and I managed to talk him down. And honestly, ours haven’t been much better. We’re worried we can’t trust each other.”

Trent closed his eyes. “Maybe it would be better if you tried to fight without me.”

Ethan shrugged and sighed. “I don’t think that’s how it works.”

“I’m really sorry,” he whispered. Ethan nodded.

“Yeah,” he said. “We know.”

There was silence between them again. There were only minor fights for a bit anyway. They were going to have to plan for something bigger, but for now, they could wait. They were going to need to until they hit a new equilibrium anyway. Doctor O stayed away for a while, probably hoping that they would continue the conversation once again if he did. Finally he did go to grab Trent to get him home.

“No luck?” Doctor O asked after a minute. Trent shook his head. “Damn.”

He just looked at his teacher in amusement. “Really? You’re going with ‘damn’?”

Doctor O just snorted at that. “I was thinking something stronger than that.”

“I’m eighteen.”

“Let’s pretend like I’m an adult,” Doctor O.

“Don’t you ever get tired of pretending?” Trent asked, wondering when he started to feel relaxed enough to tease the teacher without the other three being around.

“I’m starting to see why parents ground their kids in increments,” Doctor O muttered. Trent just grinned.

“You caught on quicker than Dad did,” he offered. He was quiet and Doctor O looked at him.

“We’ll fix this,” he promised again. “Before he was Mesogog…”

“He was a good dad,” Trent assured him. Doctor O looked relieved. “Thanks for letting me stay with you.”

“I don’t remember giving you a choice,” Doctor O told him dryly. Trent just laughed. Tommy squeezed his shoulder. “We’ll handle it.”

“Right,” Trent said and found himself actually believing it. It wouldn’t occur to him that Doctor O had equally trusted in what he had to say about Anton Mercer until the next morning.

***

Trent just held the shirt in his hand. It was distinctly not white. It was in fact the opposite. He looked in the mirror, trying to ignore that he felt ready to cry before slipping it on. He made his way out the door to breakfast. He could feel that his head was higher than normal. Doctor O didn’t look up from making breakfast.

“Can you get the table set?” He asked instead, focused on the eggs he was making.

“No problem,” Trent said, keeping his voice calm. Doctor O wasn’t Hayley. He wouldn’t hear the slight hitch that Trent still had his voice. He went and set the table as he was asked. “Done!”

“Thanks,” Doctor O said, moving to bring the pan over when he saw Trent. The pan fell to the ground. “Trent…”

“Yeah,” Trent said. “You dropped breakfast.”

“Shit!”

“Definitely shit.”

“Trent!” Doctor O said with some exasperation. “With white being one of my colors…”

“Yeah,” he said. “Good news. You can wear it twice now.”

Doctor O paused. “I think we’re having cereal this morning. I’ll be right back.”

Trent rolled his eyes and picked up the food and pan off the floor. “Right. He’s supposed to be the guardian. Sure.”

He pulled out the boxes of cereal to give them both a choice and grabbed the milk, switched out the plates for bowls. He then began to ready himself for breakfast as his mentor finally came back into the room and Trent nearly dropped his spoon but he was less of a disaster than his mentor, if you asked him.

Doctor O had changed into an outfit that splashed white into his typical black and didn’t say a single word, but picked up the box of cereal. Trent looked at him. “Are you sure that’s a good idea right now? What if it ruins your bonds with the others?”

Doctor O raised an eyebrow. “Have a little more faith in your teammates, Trent. I do.”

Trent blushed a bit and nodded. “Right.”

His mentor just smiled at him and they went back to eating the meal in peace. He’d learn later that the others were a little suspicious over the whole thing, but that they did trust Doctor O’s judgment in the matter. Trent would also get the feeling that that would help the issue with trust that they were all having. He’d find out far later that it cinched up their own bonds as well from the damage Trent had unwittingly caused.

***

Unlike the first time, the beginnings of the bonds didn’t happen slowly or one at a time. Rather, the clothing aspect didn’t. It was the only reason why Doctor O was willing to take the chance on Trent’s plan: Everyone had to trust each other to pull it off. To everyone’s surprise, it seemed that the fact that Doctor O was willing to trust Trent allowed the others to take the same chance on things. Thus, they split up to try to save Dr. Mercer as well as take down their enemy’s base. It went off as well as expected though Trent did barely make it out.

He just looked at the others with a sense of relief on his face when he was overwhelmed with emotions. Concern, anger, relief rushed through him and to top it all off, he could barely see anything because of the colors swirling around him. Kira made it to him first, pulling her to him as Doctor O helped Trent’s dad over to a chair. Then it was Ethan. And to Trent’s surprise, Conner just grabbed all of them. Doctor O just clasped his shoulder, knowing that they still had work to do but Trent could feel the pride radiating off of him.

Above all of the emotions, he recognized later once they’d destroyed Mesogog, was forgiveness. It had all happened so suddenly that Trent wasn’t sure if it was real. Doctor O had gently laughed when Trent explained his concern. “You expect it to take longer but that’s not really how people work, is it?”

“Didn’t you once tell me that your Red Ranger forgave you around three seconds in?” He asked.

“That’s an extreme reaction and most people aren’t Jason,” Tommy told him. “If it had been up to Jason, I would have had that bond within five seconds of turning good. But this? Yes, we’re not thrilled by what happened. Something I mentioned to Anton. Several times. And intend to talk to him more about it.”

“I don’t think mentioning involves yelling at the top of your lungs, Doctor O,” Trent informed him.

“When you become a mentor, you can make your own decisions on that,” Doctor O told him somewhat cheerfully. Trent politely decided against mentioning that he’d heard his teacher yelling at himself in the mirror. If there was one thing he’d learned, it was that forgiving Trent was easier for the science teacher than forgiving himself. “But just because we aren’t happy with how you went about it, doesn’t mean we don’t care about you. It may have been a large thing, but it was, at the end of the day, one thing that you lied about. We should be able to let that go.”

He nodded quietly. “Okay.”

Doctor O put his hand on the teen’s shoulder. “Just keep showing us that it was a one time thing. Also, Anton and I think you should stay here for a little longer until we’re sure that your bonds are stable.”

“You and dad both do, huh?” Trent asked, looking amused.

“And Hayley,” Doctor O added. “And Elsa.”

“Elsa?” Trent asked in amusement.

“Apparently before she was a principal, she was a school counselor so both your dad and I have had to listen to lectures about ‘proper teen…’” Doctor O started and then sniffed. “Stop laughing!”

“Did… did you have to sit on the bench for detention too?” Trent asked, gasping for air.

“Don’t ask,” Doctor O instructed which absolutely meant he did. “We also need to go by the store because I’m not feeding you right either.”

“Was she a nutritionist too?” He asked.

“No, but Anton is a food snob,” Doctor O snorted. “Do you know where you’re going to school?”

“I talked to Dad and I’m taking a year off,” he answered. “Going evil, having my dad be evil, switching places to live three times, and trauma apparently tanked my GPA.”

Doctor O had the grace to wince. “Listen…”

Trent waved it off. “It’s fine. It will help me with my relationship with Dad, I’ll have a place to go if things get rough because of you, and maybe Conner and I can bond better before I go since he isn’t going anywhere either. College is important, but I want to make sure I’m okay with everyone.”

Doctor O nodded. He’d likely felt the same and while he didn’t think that Trent had anything to worry about, strengthening his bonds was a good idea for Trent’s health. Trent hadn’t thought it would take long to convince him. He patted the younger man on the back and headed off to finish grading papers. Trent worked on his art. He wouldn’t be able to share it outside of the family, but the drawing of himself with the color appropriate bonds shaped into his bondmates’ Zords popped out on the page. Trent finally felt at home.


End file.
